- 6 weeks ago
Jason Sobel- Peter's Night of Revelation - Signs & Secrets of the Messiah
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00:00We're beginning our exploration of signs and secrets of the Nets.
00:05This is the final miracle that we're diving into together, and it will leave you stunned.
00:10This miracle teaches us about the difference between faith and fear.
00:16How do we walk in genuine faith and empower ourselves to avoid the pitfalls of fear?
00:23How do we hear and obey the voice of the Ruach HaKodesh, the Holy Spirit?
00:29What happens when we don't?
00:31I can't wait to explore all of this, even more.
00:35I'm praying that in the next two episodes, the last hour that we have together,
00:41your heart and mind will be open to the incredible message that all of these miracles
00:47point us to a more connected church prepared to embrace the old and the new in unity.
00:55That's right now on Signs and Secrets of the Messiah.
01:05What is this?
01:05But definitely, I'll be right back.
01:05Bye.
01:05heat
01:35In this episode, we're going to discuss a powerful miracle from John 21,
01:41often called the miracle of the full nets or the nets that don't break.
01:46This story is a great example of God's generosity.
01:50It was a challenging time.
01:53Peter had denied the Lord, but then Yeshua rose on the third day.
01:57Peter and a few disciples decided to go fishing right here in the Sea of Galilee.
02:04They had fished all night and caught nothing.
02:07Yeshua was on the beach, but they didn't recognize him.
02:11He called to them and instructed them to cast their nets again.
02:16They obeyed.
02:17And this time, their nets were filled to the point of almost breaking.
02:23The nets being so full symbolizes God wanting to bless us in big ways.
02:29I believe God has similar blessings in store for you.
02:40Put yourself in Peter's shoes.
02:43He had just denied knowing Yeshua.
02:47Can you imagine the guilt and uncertainty he felt?
02:50Probably believed he had lost his chance to lead or even play a significant role
02:56in the movement of people following Yeshua.
02:59He went from being the rock that the church would be built upon to feeling like a pebble.
03:05So we turn to something familiar.
03:09This mirrors something we see during the Israelites' trek through the desert.
03:14When times got tough, they were feeling desperate.
03:18They wanted to turn back to the familiar.
03:22They wanted the comfort of food and certainty that Egypt had provided.
03:27In Peter's case, his comfort zone was fishing.
03:31There's an interesting piece of wisdom when we consider the Hebrew word for fish, which is dog.
03:38Beyond its literal meaning, dog also stands for anxiety.
03:44Take Psalm 38, 18 as an example where it says,
03:49For I confess my iniquity.
03:51I am full of anxiety, dog in Hebrew, due to my sins.
03:56Essentially, this term, which refers to fish, can also convey feelings of worry, fear, or concern.
04:04Putting it in context, Peter and his fellow disciples were likely fishing from a place of deep worry and anxiety
04:14about the future.
04:17Fear is essentially false faith.
04:21Genuine faith believes for the best, and fear anticipates the worst.
04:27It's a poison that distorts reality, making us view situations way more negatively than they actually are.
04:36It makes us think everything's going wrong, even if it's not.
04:41Fear confines and cripples faith and powers.
04:45When we're operating from fear, we can't see what's directly in front of us.
04:50We miss out on the miraculous ways that God wants to intervene in our lives.
04:57Yeshua stood there and called out to the disciples in a moment of uncertainty and fear.
05:03They just had to recognize it was Him.
05:07Faith is the flip side of fear.
05:10It drives us forward and helps us face challenges head on.
05:15Faith brings blessing, but fear brings cursing.
05:181 John 5, 4-5 says,
05:22Everyone born of God overcomes the world.
05:25This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.
05:31Who is it that overcomes the world?
05:33Only the one who believes that Yeshua is the Son of God.
05:38The Greek word for overcomes is nikao.
05:42Yeshua comes for us to have victory.
05:45He overcomes the fears that can drag us down or cause us to make bad decisions.
05:52This becomes crystal clear when we take a look at the numbers.
05:56The Greek word nikao, overcomes, has a numerical value of 490.
06:03Peter's name in Greek also has a value of, guess what, 490.
06:09Why is this significant?
06:11Because of an interaction that Yeshua had with Peter in Matthew 18.
06:16Peter comes to Yeshua and asks Him,
06:18How many times should He forgive someone who sins against Him?
06:22Seven times?
06:23Yeshua says,
06:26No, low, not seven times, but 70 times seven.
06:31That equals, guess what, 490.
06:35Forgiveness is directly connected to 490.
06:39So zooming out, we can see the whole picture taking shape in the numbers.
06:45To overcome 490, Peter 490 had to embody forgiveness 490.
06:53In the case of Peter, this might have simply been forgiving himself,
06:58having the courage to step away from the comfort zone of his old routines
07:03and keep moving forward when the world felt like it was falling apart all around him.
07:09Forgiveness and faith are some of the greatest tools we have for overcoming fear.
07:21Biblically, in the Hebrew Scriptures, the Old Testament,
07:25the Sea of Galilee was called the Yam Kineget,
07:28which literally means the harp sea,
07:30because the Sea of Galilee is literally in the shape of what looks like a harp.
07:36It's also known in the Bible in the New Testament as the Sea of Tiberias,
07:42because the city that was named after Emperor Tiberius Julius Caesar of the Roman Empire,
07:49who had control of the land in the time of Yeshua.
07:54But of course, there is more that we need to understand.
07:58Josephus tells us that there were as many as 230 boats fishing on the Galilee in the first century.
08:07That's a lot of people.
08:08It shows us that the Sea of Galilee was a major source of economic sustenance for this region.
08:17But the type of fishing they did was not line fishing.
08:21It was actually net fishing.
08:23It was very lucrative, but it was really hard work.
08:27It was strenuous, and it really needed to be organized.
08:32Usually how it worked is that they would go out at night,
08:35and two or three boats would work together,
08:38and one boat would drive the fish into the nets of the other two boats,
08:43and they would repeat this seven or eight times a night,
08:46and they could catch up to half a ton of fish and bring that in for their catch.
08:52That's a lot of fish.
08:54Think about the nets that don't break.
08:56How many fish that boat could have held?
08:59It could have held up to half a ton.
09:00That's pretty amazing.
09:02Fishing is a metaphor for reaching people with the good news.
09:08It was hard work.
09:10It was strenuous.
09:11It wasn't easy, but the payoff could be great.
09:15And I think that's so significant.
09:18God wants to bring this great catch.
09:20He wants to use our net, our network of relationship,
09:25us working with other people in partnership, in relationship,
09:29just like several boats work together to bring in the great catch of fish.
09:33When we work together in the body of Messiah for the kingdom,
09:38there's no telling the great impact we can have in the lives that can be changed
09:42for the sake of Yeshua and his kingdom.
09:49When you envision your life, do you picture a future overflowing with blessings and divine favor?
09:56There is a way to make this happen.
09:58We tap into God's favor and blessing when we operate in the power of the Ruach,
10:04the power of the Spirit.
10:05Let me show you what I mean by taking a close look at this miracle of the nets
10:11and the secret of the right side.
10:14Picture this.
10:15The disciples, including Peter, are out fishing.
10:19Not during the day, but at night.
10:22It's more than just a simple fishing trip.
10:24There's some deep symbolism here.
10:27The act of fishing in the dark wasn't unusual for the people at that time.
10:32But the layered imagery in John's writing points to a deeper message.
10:38The cloak of night can signify those moments in our life
10:42when we feel separated from God's light and guidance.
10:46It's like wandering in a maze with no exit in sight.
10:51Fishing in the dark is like fishing without the direction of the Holy Spirit, the Ruach.
10:57It only produces empty nets.
11:02Peter was in a dark season in his life.
11:05After denying Yeshua, he was back at square one.
11:13But every night has its dawn.
11:17At sunrise, Yeshua is standing there on the beach and asks if they caught any fish.
11:24He wants to know the needs of the disciples at that very moment.
11:29He wanted to know what they lacked.
11:31They called back, telling Yeshua they were empty-handed.
11:36Yeshua told them to cast their nets again.
11:40More specifically, he told them to throw the nets on the right side of the boat.
11:46This is where the impossible happens.
11:50The disciples find their nets so full, they're practically breaking.
11:57This is the turning point.
11:59When they listened to what Yeshua said, they were empowered and received the blessing he had for them.
12:06If we ever really want to flourish in our lives, we have to operate in alignment with the Ruach.
12:14This Hebrew word is used to refer to the Spirit, the power of God manifests in our world.
12:22There are moments when our work just yields nothing.
12:26This sometimes can signal that we might not be in harmony with God's divine wisdom and power.
12:33Sometimes we're casting our nets in that perfect fishing spot, throwing it over again and again, just waiting for the
12:43abundance to come.
12:44Then when we feel like we're out of options, we finally turn to God as our last resort.
12:51This is the opposite of the way we're called to seek direction in life.
12:56The key to strengthening our nets lies in persistently turning to the Spirit.
13:02We need to operate by relying on God, listening to His voice, and following His plan.
13:09Here's what may help you.
13:11Take time to pray and ask the Holy Spirit to guide you in all aspects of your life.
13:17I guarantee your nets will be strengthened.
13:25Sometimes we think we've come up with great ideas for the next move in life.
13:31We ask God to bless them without asking God what His plans or intentions are for our life.
13:38It's not great ideas that we need, but God's ideas implemented in the power of the Spirit that will help
13:47us experience the great catch.
13:49This is the point of John 15, 5.
13:52I am the vine, you are the branches.
13:56Those who stay united with me and I with them are the ones who bear much fruit.
14:02Because apart from me, you can't do a thing.
14:05In Greek, do you know what the word thing means?
14:09It means nothing.
14:10In Hebrew, ethos.
14:12It means nothing, zilch, zero.
14:15And in Yiddish, an incredibly colorful language, the phrase is gornish mit gornish means nothing, a whole lot of nothing.
14:23Apart from God, all we're ever going to get is a whole lot of nothing.
14:34I knew a successful businessman who owned a large clothing store.
14:39He's a billionaire who came from Asia to the U.S.
14:43This guy barely received a high school education and worked at gas stations, pumping gas, checking oil, and cleaning windshields
14:54for years.
14:55A lot of times he would ask the people whom he was helping, what do you do for work?
15:00My friend realized that many of the most successful people who drove the nicest cars were in the clothing and
15:08fashion business.
15:09So he and his wife saved enough money to buy a failing store, turned it around, and created a clothing
15:17empire.
15:18This guy reached the pinnacle of business success.
15:22But he wasn't selfish.
15:24He was also constantly donating his money to kingdom causes.
15:28When I asked him how he built such a big business and how it became such a huge success, he
15:36said that his success was simple.
15:38He told me, I'm not that educated.
15:41I don't have an MBA.
15:43What I do is sit with God for hours each day and lay all the opportunities as decisions before him
15:50and pray.
15:51And then I wait for God to answer.
15:53That was it.
15:55That was his business strategy.
15:57I was blown away by that thought.
16:00He didn't have a college education.
16:03I don't know how far he went in high school.
16:06Yet he was so well off.
16:08Why?
16:09Because he operated in the power of the spirit, according to the plan of God, laying it all before him
16:17in prayer.
16:18If our nets are going to be full, we have to operate in the power, direction, and leadership of the
16:27Ruach HaKodesh, the Holy Spirit.
16:32Thinking back to the miracle of the nets, it's worth remembering that they could have dismissed the stranger on the
16:39shore.
16:40They were experienced fishermen and had no reason to recognize him as Yeshua.
16:45They didn't need any fishing advice yet.
16:49Yet, maybe led by a divine impulse, they listened to the stranger's advice.
16:54I firmly believe this to be the spirit's nudge, guiding them to adjust their technique.
17:02By listening to this divine intuition, they witnessed a miraculous catch.
17:08That's a takeaway for all of us.
17:11Sometimes that's all it takes.
17:14Simply listening.
17:18To understand the significance of the miracle of the nets, we need to understand why Yeshua instructed them to cast
17:27their nets on the right side of the boat.
17:29Why?
17:30The right side, from a Hebraic perspective, is the side of the word.
17:36It's the side of the Torah.
17:39The right side is also considered to be the side of water, mayim.
17:44Water and Torah are associated in Jewish thought.
17:48We read the Torah three days a week in the synagogue.
17:51Why?
17:52Because you can't live more than three days without water.
17:55Just like we can't live physically without water for our bodies, our souls can't live more than three days without
18:04the water of the Torah, God's word.
18:07Jewish people read the Torah Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays on Shabbat to make sure that we never go more than
18:15those three days without scripture.
18:21Everything from the timing of Yeshua calling out to the disciples, to the side of the boat that he instructed
18:27them to fish, it all points to eternal truths.
18:32It all points back to Yeshua's heart for us.
18:35From a Hebraic perspective, the left side is a side of fire and strict justice.
18:42The right side is a side of Torah, God, and water.
18:46But there's something else associated with the right side that points to a beautiful mystery.
18:53The right side is considered the side of chesed.
18:57Let's explore the concept of chesed a little further.
19:08Remember the word chesed?
19:09It means loving kindness in Hebrew and was used a lot in the story of Ruth and Boaz.
19:15The story showed us that God's heart is for Jews and Gentiles to come together.
19:21He desires unity.
19:23And that's what loving kindness, his chesed, is all about.
19:27If we're not unified by our love for one another, our nets will break.
19:32Until we come together in relational unity as Jews and Gentiles,
19:38or come into relational unity with the people that God brings into our lives,
19:44we will not see the fullness of God's blessings.
19:48Husbands and wives, families, communities, and churches need to be united
19:55for our nets to be full and not break.
19:58This unity has to be rooted in love
20:01because the nets are only as strong as the knots that bind them together.
20:06The knots represent our connection through the relationships God put in our lives.
20:12Now let's paint a bigger picture here.
20:16Unity isn't just about you and your best friend agreeing on a pizza topping.
20:21It's about communities, families, entire churches,
20:25and yes, even folks from different religious and cultural backgrounds coming together.
20:31It's the Jew and the Gentile understanding each other.
20:35This unity isn't just about agreement.
20:38It's about depth and strength.
20:42Think of it like a net.
20:44It's only as strong as the knots that hold it.
20:48Every single piece of string woven into that net
20:51has to work together to make it strong.
20:54When we're connected to the people that God has placed around us,
20:59we can bring in the abundance that God has for us.
21:04There's this profound moment in Luke 5.10.
21:07Yeshua calls on Peter to follow him and cast the nets.
21:11The catch so big and overwhelming had the nets on the verge of snapping.
21:18Commenting upon this verse, the pulpit commentary says,
21:22Augustine beautifully compares the broken and torn net to the church
21:28that is now full of divisions and rents.
21:31The net unrent and untorn will be the church of the future,
21:35which will have no schisms.
21:40We, like that net, have weak spots, divisions, and tears.
21:46But there's hope for the future.
21:49A net that's whole and strong.
21:51One that doesn't let anything slip through.
21:55That net is not just a tool.
21:58It's symbolic.
21:59It's about bonds, connections, and partnerships
22:03that God is orchestrating right now.
22:06But here's the catch.
22:07No pun intended.
22:09No one individual or even a big group
22:13can whip up a net massive and robust enough
22:16to encompass God's enormous blessings.
22:19I believe the Lord is waiting for enough nets to join in unity
22:24before he sends a great catch.
22:27We can't have the catch without the container.
22:31And that container is nets that don't break.
22:35The Bible isn't just throwing these ideas out there without clarity.
22:40In John 17, 20 to 23, Yeshua prays for unity among all of us.
22:47Think about this on a deeper level.
22:49This wasn't just any prayer.
22:51This was Yeshua's final prayer.
22:54His last prayer was all about unity.
22:57When followers of Yeshua work together,
22:59we're fulfilling the final wish of our Redeemer.
23:03We can answer this prayer.
23:05Would you pass up an opportunity like that?
23:10As Psalm 133.1 beautifully puts it,
23:18How good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity.
23:23For us to fully grasp the enormous blessings that await,
23:26our foundations need to be rooted in love, ahava, and unity.
23:31In essence, when we stand together, our efforts amplify.
23:38God's love is shown to the world when we're united front.
23:42We need to be ready with our metaphorical nets fortified and reinforced for the fantastic blessings that are just on
23:53the horizon.
23:53We're preparing ourselves for a big catch, for greater abundance, for the messianic kingdom itself.
24:02Hey, look, the moral of the story is crystal clear.
24:06To make waves, to truly be God's agents on earth, we need to stand tall and firm, hand in hand,
24:16bound by love, ahava, and purpose.
24:19Whether we're talking about fishing or life's grander challenges, unity and love are our protective armor, ensuring our nets stay
24:29robust.
24:30It's time for us to cast our nets in unison and be amazed at the blessings we gather.
24:38There is no John 21 great catch without the John 17 unity that we talked about in Yeshua's prayer.
24:48There's still so much more left here to explore within this miracle.
24:53Scripture tells us that the disciples caught 153 fish.
24:57But why this specific number?
25:00There's a secret here that'll blow you away.
25:04In our next episode, we're exploring the four principles of keeping your nets full and unlocking the abundance that God
25:13has for us.
25:14I can't wait to dive into all of this and so much more next time on our finale episode of
25:23Signs and Secrets of the Messiah.
25:40We'll see you next time.
25:57We'll see you next time.
25:57We'll see you next time.
25:57We'll see you next time.
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